Producer Spotlights

Spring is officially in full bloom here in New York, marking the beginning of the growing season for many farmers and gardeners across the state. With holidays like Easter and Mother’s Day, around the corner, many people associate this time of year with the bright, beautiful flowers that begin to bloom across the state. However, New York State is home to a flourishing floriculture industry with many growers who grow and sell their blooms all year long, like NYS Grown & Certified flower producer Alchemy Farmhouse, one of 40 flower producers in the program.

Alchemy Farmhouse sits on a little over four acres in Gardiner, a small town at the southern end of Ulster County, and utilizes both indoor and outdoor techniques to offer beautiful, New York grown flowers year round. For Alchemy Farmhouse, this means growing flowers indoors hydroponically and in soil and growing flowers outdoors in raised, mostly no-till beds. Tulips are the farm’s biggest crop, growing over 20,000 tulips a season and harvesting from December through May. The farm grows over twenty other crops, including perennials such as peonies, lilies, eremurus and heirloom daffodils. In the fall months, the farm shifts focus to dahlias.

The farm has been a proud member of NYS Grown & Certified since 2023, which means that they adhere to a higher standard of environmental stewardship by enrolling in the Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) program. Administered by their county Soil and Water Conservation district, the program identifies environmental risks to the farm’s sustainability. In addition to this, Alchemy Farmhouse avoids pesticides and herbicides, opting instead for hand weeding, trap crops, and hand-picking insects from specialty crops. They also use biodegradable materials like landscape fabric and straw to block weeds and prevent new ones from being exposed during tilling. Additionally, because much of the winter tulip crop is grown hydroponically, the farm uses significantly fewer peat products than exclusively soil-crated grown crops, and recycles and reuses the peat they do use, incorporating it into new growing space each season.

Alchemy Farmhouse began in the spring of 2021 when owner Lauren Tamraz pivoted from her career as an English teacher to share her passion and skill for growing flowers with her community. To Lauren, the business is about more than just the flowers – it’s also about building relationships, connecting with friends and neighbors, supporting other local and small business owners, and being an active, engaged member of her community.

Speaking on the community she’s found in her home of the Hudson Valley, Lauren said, “[It’s] a vibrant community of people interested in local agriculture, and, in particular, supporting local farmers. We were lucky to align ourselves with other small-but-mighty women-owned businesses when we first started and that really helped us gain footing locally.”

This community-driven mission is evident in the farm’s focus on CSA flower farming as well as in-person community events like weekly flowers, workshops, plant sales, and pop-ups. Alchemy Farmhouse’s flowers are primarily sold through weekly CSA subscriptions, with pickups at local cafes and bakeries that also have a focus on sourcing their ingredients locally. Customers can find upcoming events on the farm’s website!

Tamraz feels confident that her customers believe in her community-centered method of business as much as she does, having seen a tremendous growth in interest and engagement in the farm’s weekly newsletter sharing the highlights and challenges of running a small family farm. Lauren said, “It’s a pleasure to have an outlet for my former life as an English teacher, and I like being able to let the community peek behind the flower curtain a bit.”

Lauren says that her favorite part about flower farming has always been consistent: walking outside and gathering a bouquet of whatever is blooming to share with others.

“Having a career that includes a constantly changing palette of color, texture, shape, and scent is inspiring and I appreciate having a job that brings happiness to my community.”